What makes a good hardscape design?

The hardscape is the non-living functional and architectural element of the landscape.  Hardscape design requires and understanding of construction and drainage to produce a space that is designed to fit with it’s purpose and scale.  When designing these spaces we must know the intended and even unintended uses of the space.  Find out about the dynamics of the clients lives in order to determine the function.  An understanding of the psychology of space as it relates to human behavior and emotion is a critical part of designing these spaces.  People tend to gravitate towards walls and edges, people feel more comfortable when steps between elevations occur in groups of at least 3 risers.   Slight changes in elevation can break up a space and divide a larger scale into more intimate settings.  All of these concepts play a role in site specific design of hardscapes.

 The truly elegant and timeless hardscape designs do have one thing in common.   Great outdoor hardscape spaces have a strict attention to detail.  These details come in both the construction of materials in how the meet or join, and also in the choice of the materials for the specific situation.  Any natural stone will lend to more timeless quality in the landscape, however there are some artificial products that have been tumbled or colored to give a great stone-like appearance with less labor.  The scale of the material is also important in great hardscapes.  Generally my motto is the bigger the better when building outdoors, but some thought should be put into which portions are larger or smaller.  Steps are always a great place to exaggerate the scale when possible.  And I never build a skinny rink-a-dink seat wall.  We always build double walls to give the everlasting feel of landscape to last a thousand years.  If we are using natural stone we even attempt to make it seem as though the wall has already been around a thousand years and has a millennium left.

 The key to designing a quality hardscape is using quality materials with well thought out details of a great design derived from an in depth understanding of the space and it’s users.

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